Marketers in Cubes
Can you put marketers in cubes? Ok, it’s not like we’re higher on the food chain than everyone else (and believe me, I know organizations that put marketing slightly above worms and dead plants). But marketers do stuff on a daily basis that doesn’t mesh with cube culture:- We think - We can do more than just “make the logo bigger.” Actually, we like to think about how to do something completely different and “never been done before.” I prefer complete silence when I think ... and ya can’t do that when Doofus Dan in the next cube is talking to shipping or accounting all day long.
- We write – Now, writing is not always thinking. Sometimes it’s damn mechanical. Nevertheless, it demands our attention. And I’ll tell you, one’s attention wanders when there’s a convo about someone’s weekend “playdates” transpiring in the next cube.
- We collaborate – Marketers like brainstorming. We throw out the ridiculously silly stuff and then come back to it and try to make it into something ingenious. Sometimes it works, sometimes it seems like a massive waste of time to non-marketers who often tell us to pipe down and get our "real" work done.
- We get inspired – When I want to write something outrageously wonderful, I read five pages of Nabokov. Yup, I’ll crack open a book in my office and just read. Now, most 9-to-5ers would think this is massive screwing off. But it’s not. It’s how I get my brain in gear. I know someone else who listens to symphonies … loudly. Again, not good in a cube.
- We screw up – Marketing is a very public profession. Most of our stuff gets put on a billboard, on the Web or in some publication. So, our mistakes are really, really public. And when someone tells us we misspelled “government” on 40,000 brochures, we start to cry … often loudly. Edna in the next cube probably can’t take the emotion.
Ok, I’ll admit. I don’t work “cube style” anymore. But I’ve paid my dues. I’ve even worked in a newsroom where I sat computer-to-computer with the another reporter (who took off his socks and clipped his toenails). But I’ll go on record to say, “Free the marketers from their cubes.” It’s just not right.
